Wednesday, 4 August 2010

An afternoon out.

This afternoon I went with two friends and three dogs on an outing up the dale. Tess stayed at home as four dogs would have been one too many!We went to The Dales Countryside museum in Hawes where today, for the first time a gold ring of Viking origin is on show. It was found about twenty miles away - what an exciting find. The photograph is of very poor quality as the ring is well-lit and also inside a glass box - but it does give you some idea.

We had a wander round the rest of the Museum, which is really just a slice of Old Dales Life. I loved the farmhouse kitchen, which reminded me of our kitchen when I was a child and also all the laundry paraphernalia associated with wash day. Again a good reminder for me of Mondays, when the copper would be lit, the water boiled, white clothes boiled almost to extinction, starched, dipped in Reckitt's Blue, put through the mangle, hung on the line, ironed, aired and put away - two days work at least.

On the journey home, after a nice walk, we came up behind a herd of cows going in for milking - another typical Dales happening. I got home to find that the farmer has had to stop what he was doing as the power shaft has broken on his tractor - so it is being repaired tomorrow. Farm life never runs smoothly. Have a nice evening.

22 comments:

Love the picture of the cows out for their walk too !Maybe I missed it but are those your ducks( I thought they were geese but someone said ducks, my eyes are going bad ) and if so do they like to take walks in a charming line ? just perfect for a photo !

What a thrill to see that Viking ring and know it came from somewhere so near. The laundry exhibits take me back to my childhood too. I love it when cows stop the traffic (unless we're in a hurry, of course!). Hope the farmer's tractor is repaired quickly and not too expensively.

Yes, laundry must have been a torment back in those days.No wonder we had to wear clothes several days in a row.Along with the internet, better washing machines etc have improved our lives enormously.So whenever one sets out to have a little moan about the present it's good to remind ourselves of the , admittedly picturesque, but too tome consuming chores of the past.Poor Tess, was she bored?Hope machinery in an improved state now?

weaver i remember a more modern version of that mangle in my mum's kitchen. can you imagine the labour that went into that being foisted onto the caregivers of today?!! it was commonplace back then of course. steven

What a find indeed! You have posted so many interesting things in my absence that I shall come back again to fully appreciate them all. I love the tapestried Namibian ponies. The cave paintings at Lascaux and Altamira have also always been a joy to me.

Thank you for your caring comments my dear. Maybe I just needed a rest from the Prof's progressing Alzheimers/Dementia.

I remember being allowed to stand on a chair to help crank the mangle handle on Monday Laundry days! North American readers might not know that when the British use the term "mangle" it is a noun describing the hand-cranked laundry "wringer" featured in your photo!

I know Hawes well being a frequent visitor to the auction. Last year when my son and his partner came to visit, Emma and I visited the museum, it is fascinating. She was amazed to know that I remember watching my grandmother doing the laundry using the same items that were displayed. I must make another visit to see the Viking ring.You are lucky living in those wonderful Yorkshire Dales, I watch your blog with avid interest.

The cows photo is a wonderful reminder of my childhood. There was a dairy farm between where I lived and my school and every morning we had to stop and wait while the cows crossed the road.

The farmer would hold his hand up to stop the traffic (not always an easy task on the holiday route into Scarborough!) and everyone would have to wait while the herd made its way from field to milking parlour (or the other way).

Sounds like a lovely and interesting day. It's refreshing to see that you find so much joy in your day to day life. As for the tractor shaft, rest assured that farms are not the only places that life does not always run smoothly.

Thank you, Weaver, for your kind comment on my Land&Lit blog here. I wasn't exactly writing a book review [more linking the book to my impression of its landscape] - so you might find the Amazon reviews[s] in the link here would help you more in your decision.

I, for one, was captivated by the book [and found it interesting that Nicolson has links with the Sackville-West family - I also enjoyed his 'Arcadia', largely about the estate and farmland around Wilton House in Wilts.]. BUT ... I still felt repulsed at the thought of those who ate the puffins!

That apart, I enjoyed the island descriptions, the archaeology, the wildlife encounters ... certainly a breath of Hebridean air by a man on a mission to preserve his island hertage in a particular way.

I have just begun 'The Wild Places' by Robert Macfarlane, after reading a review on a blog. Not all about Scotland [though I have encountered Skye so far]... I'm only part way through... and I see the reviews are a bit mixed.

MY PERSONAL fav. wild bird book is 'Crow Country' by Mark Cocker - but then it's about the rural Norfolk of my childhood - so dear to my heart. It's almost [to me] as mesmerising as the roosting clouds of corvids he describes in such fascinating detail.